The invention relates to a process of safely compacting a radio-active material into a solid body, said material being presented in a container which is enclosed in a vacuum chamber beforehand, as disclosed in applicant's co-pending U.S. application, having Ser. No. 370,513, filed June 15, 1973.
It is known that the temperature of radio-active materials, emitting radiation energy, increases and that consequently they can be used as isotopic heat sources. Such an isotope is separated, as a rule, from fission products by means of chemical separation processes. The isotope to be separated is then bonded in a specific chemical compound, permitting the practical application of the radio-active isotope. As a rule the final product of the chemical separation processes applied, will be a product of average density, which however, is lower than the theoretical density of the chemical compound.
Beginning with a radio-active material in the form of a granulated or pulverous chemical mass, such mass will be densified for practical purposes to the highest possible degree, by cold and/or hot compacting, and as the case may be, by a subsequent sintering process into bodies which can be easily handled and displaced. It is a well-known fact that the energy-output per unit of volume is in proportion to the number of radio-active atoms per unit of volume. Consequently, in order to realize optimum energy-output, the density of the solid body should approximate as closely as possible, the theoretical density of the selected chemical compound.